Read "Northanger Abbey" for several reasons. First, it is an entertaining novel--and that alone should give encouragement to a prospective reader! Second, it is a pointed description of a society based only on class and wealth, in which one's happiness depends upon securing "a fortune." Finally, it is an accessible introduction to Austen's works and may encourage you to read more.
Enjoy journeying with Catherine Morland from her small town home to Bath and thence to Northanger Abbey and home again!
The presence of the two shockingly audacious and impudent Thorpes--John and Isabella--almost makes up for this. Never did I want to slap and/or kick two fictional characters more. The ways in which they try to foil Catherine's hope of romance with Henry Tilney--and arrange a marriage between the artful Isabella and Catherine's innocent, unsuspecting brother--are enough to make readers gnash their teeth. Ironically, the scenes with the charming Henry and his kind sister Eleanor ramble along in comparison to the explosive scenes "graced" by the outrageous Thorpes.
I liked the last twelve chapters better. Actually set in Northanger Abbey, they are a hilarious satire of the nineteenth century Gothic novel. Catherine stumbles into misadventure after misadventure (if I may be so generous as to call them such), thanks to her wild imagination and voracious novel-reading. It is wonderful to be caught in the excitement of a (pseudo) Gothic mystery that readers know is not real, but that they understand _could_ be real. It's the excitement of telling ghost stories around a campfire then trying to get to sleep. Everyone believes that anything could happen, though anything rarely does. It's nice, safe, thrilling fun.
In my opinion, Jane Austen was having so much fun herself, in writing these scenes, that she did not sufficiently develop the romance between Catherine and Henry. They have few scenes together and Henry's character is too agreeable to be as interesting as John Thorpe's--or even General Tilney's. (Jane Austen should have apologized for him instead of for Catherine. Henry Tilney is more a Mr. Bingley than a Mr. Darcy.)
Despite this, "Northanger Abbey" has the expected happy romantic ending--with the author still giving cheeky asides to the reader. I'd still recommend this book . . . but only after "Pride and Prejudice", of course.
Our heroine is Catherine, she is a rather silly young girl who has read too many gothic romances. "The Mysteries of Udolpho" in particular has turned her silly head. She seems to see a gothic mystery everywhere she looks. Catherine soon learns that the world is not all melodrama and eventually matures and marries a very sensible man. What keeps Catherine likable is her capacity to learn from her mistakes. She is certainly the least mature of Austen's heroines but she is never boring.
This is a marvelous book to start with if you want to get into Jane Austen, it does not have as many characters or subplots as her other works and it is very breezy. I enjoyed it and am now reading Udolpho myself. We'll see what happens. ;-)